'Olympus Has Fallen' For Melissa Leo; J.K. Simmons Joins 'Jobs'; Adam Brody Does It For 'All The Wrong Reasons' & More

In today’s casting round-up we have more news regarding the villain in one of the two competing White House-siege films, a whole host names joining the indie Steve Jobs biopic, a New York-set ensemble indie pic, and a coming-of-age dramedy set along the Red River border between Oklahoma and Texas.

The White House siege flick “Olympus Has Fallen” now has its villain cast. Rick Yune, from the upcoming Robert Zemeckis live action film “Flight,” will play “a North Korean posing as a South Korean ministerial aide who is described as a sociopathic monster.” And we might also know who the first casualty is, as Melissa Leo will be playing a “tough secretary of Defense who cracks when tortured.” Our guess is that Leo’s character will give up some secret that will lead the bad guys taking over the White House and put the President (Aaron Eckhart) in harm’s way. Fortunately, Gerard Butler and his team of Secret Service agents, which includes Cole Hauser, are there to protect the POTUS. Antoine Fuqua directs the film which starts production this week. [Hollywood Reporter]

To tell you the truth, we still can’t believe that there’s a Steve Jobs biopic filming right now with Ashton Kutcher as the turtlenecked one, but it’s actually happening right now as we speak and a whole bunch of names have jumped on board the indie film. “Spider-Man” MVP J.K. Simmons, Victor Rasuk (“Raising Victor Vargas,” “How To Make It In America“), Kevin Dunn (last seen in “Warrior”), Elden Henson, Lenny Jacobson, Giles Matthey and Ahna O’Reilly have all joined the cast. They join Kutcher and “The Book of Mormon” cast member Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak. Shooting began last month with a release aimed for this winter. [Variety]

“The O.C.” star Adam Brody has kept a lower profile since the end of the series, despite very nearly playing The Flash in George Miller’s ill-fated take on the “Justice Leauge.” Brody is playing the lead role in Gia Milani’s ensemble drama “All the Wrong Reasons.” The Slamdance award-winning script follows “four friends as they wander around New York City over the course of one eventful day.” The film starts shooting later this month, presumably with enough time to make the deadline for Sundance/Slamdance. [Variety]=”#.t_z5wi4cs0s”>

And finally, Alicia Silverstone and Billy Burke (the ‘Twilight’ films) are set to star opposite Amanda Michalka (“The Lovely Bones,” “Super 8”) in the coming-of-age dramedy “Jesus In Cowboy Boots.” The Texas-Oklahoma-border-set film follow Michalka’s “struggles with her self-absorbed mother” and attempt to realize “her potential with the help of her imaginary friend The Cowboy, played by Burke.” Filming has already begun with writer-director William Carey making his feature film debut. No release date is set. [Variety]